Posted on 07/19/2011 8:04:52 PM PDT by Pan_Yan
The Italian government has blocked an investigation into the whereabouts of a massive consignment of weapons removed from a military depot in the Mediterranean, amid speculation that the cargo was secretly supplied to Libya.
The weapons were from a consignment that included 30,000 Kalashnikov AK-47 automatic rifles, 32m rounds of ammunition, 5,000 Katyusha rockets, 400 Fagot wire-guided anti-tank missiles and some 11,000 other anti-tank weapons.
They were transferred from a store on the island of Santo Stefano, off the north coast of Sardinia, and transported to the mainland where they were loaded onto army trucks , a source familiar with the operation told the Guardian. But what happened to them after that is a mystery – and now a secret.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Was the damned ATF involved in this, too? /wee bit o’ sarcasm
The list of hardware is rather sizeable.
SEIU probably has them now.
As with the rest of the article, that history is as clear as mud.
So the Italians intercept a shipment of weapons headed for the Balkins in the early 90’s. A huge shipment. Some judge orders them destroyed but oops, no one gets around to it.
Flash forward 20 years. Italy is the last European country supporting Mad Dog Gaddafi, Italy’s largest supplier of oil. Then Prez Barry give ‘ole Prime Minister Viagra a call and makes him an offer he can’t refuse. Suddenly Italy is all in. They condemn Gaddafi, they open their air space to NATO and their planes start supporting the no fly zone. They need to get this little war over quickly. But no one is allowed to give the rebels weapons (yet).
But it just so happened they have an entire shipload of weapons that are ‘off the books’ just sitting in a warehouse that no one remembers. Seems like a perfect match. And it was, until someone talked.
Spare us from the Fagot missiles - yuck.
It had been seized by the Italian Navy from a vessel that was heading from one of the former Soviet states to Croatia during the Balkans conflict in 1994.
Four Hundred Missiles Mysteriously Disappear from La Maddalena
Damn! That’s my kind of yard sale.
...secretly supplied to Libya... included 30,000 Kalashnikov AK-47 automatic rifles, 32m rounds of ammunition, 5,000 Katyusha rockets, 400 Fagot wire-guided anti-tank missiles and some 11,000 other anti-tank weapons.Fagot?!? Freakin' homophobes!
Hey, would everyone on freerepublic please start calling me a ruthless, cruel, dictator? I need the UN to pass a non-binding resolution on me so I can get free ammunition :)
Thanks. You could hardly ask for a better story.
Hey, coming soon to a gun show near you!
Hey, would everyone on freerepublic please start calling me a ruthless, cruel, dictator?
Do you want to pretend your democratically elected and be called Prime Minister or El Presidente? Or would a coup be better, Colonel? Perhaps you could claim to be descended from Mohammed like His Majesty the King Mohammed the Sixth, Commander of the Faithful, may God grant him victory, Commander in Chief of the Moroccan Armed Forces.
I'll take 20 Kalashnikov's, a few hundred thousand rounds of 7.62x39 and, ooh, let me have 10 of those Katyusha rockets. Do you have a manual for those in English?
Oh damn I didn’t really get that far into thinking about it... This dictator stuff is harder than I thought :(
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